June 25th

“When Moses went into the tent of the covenant on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds.” Numbers 17:8

don’t despair,
God still works—
not where sycophants kiss power
but in communities told repeatedly
that nothing good will bloom there,
not in behind flickering screens
but in hearts shattered by grief,
not in corridors of power
but in neighborhoods weary of worry.
don’t despair,
God still works—
where teachers never give up,
in friends who always show up,
in children who always hope,
in strangers sharing kindness.
don’t despair,
God still works—
in the steady noise of fear,
division, hate, and cruelty,
God touches those dry branches
which the world is ready
to use as kindling,
and grace, love, justice,
peace, inclusion, and joy
begin to bud.
don’t despair,
God still works.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

June 24th

"Hoping against hope," Romans 4:18a

though the poll numbers
about being able to restore
creation to better days are poor,
we hope we will be wise enough
to keep working at it.
though the expectations as
to whether we are able
to accept others for who
they ae seem to be diminishing,
we hope we will never stop
standing with those who are
bullied and shamed by the world.
though we know we cannot
bank on the wealthiest of the wealthy
to be willing to share from
their abundance, still we
will not give up hoping that
everyone, one day, will never
have to go without the very
necessities of life.

(c) Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

June 23rd

“Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.” Romans 4:4-5

we think faith
is a timecard
we use each day
to make sure God knows
how diligent, how hard working,
how compassionate and just,
how many hours we are accumulating
as we move through life
until that final paycheck
that gets us God’s good grace.
but it is that simple,
even foolish in the eyes of the world,
childlike trust we have, even
before we got out of bed,
before we had breakfast,
before we had planned our day,
before we did a single thing,
which is how God’s good grace
has gotten us.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

June 22nd

“Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith.” Romans 3;27

like precious plants we nourish,
we bring our framed diplomas,
our trophies polished and gleaming,
our report cards
and perfect attendance records,

a memorized acceptance speech—
but when we stand before you,
they slip away like dust
to be carried away on a breeze
for all we can bring are empty pockets.
because faith is not a medal
but an open door
to your Beloved Community,
where your mercy arrives
before any of our successes
and your welcome before
all that we think is most dear.
and so, we are invited
to walk beside you,
no taller than anyone else,
no wiser than a kid
just learning to read,
but full of gratitude.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

June 21st

“The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.” Acts 15:12

in the joy of a child telling
Grandpa about seeing her
favorite player score a goal
in the match she attended.
in the stranger who prepays
for the groceries for the
family behind him, who
are counting their money
while looking at what they
could put back if needed.
in the young person visiting
his grandmother in the
memory unit, and then begins
singing a French ballad
for her neighbor who has
no family to visit her.
in people we never notice
because of being glued
to our mindless devices,
in voices we never hear
because we have the
speakerphone turned on,
we miss so many of your
signs and wonders, O God.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

June 20th

"Then the men who had gone up with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we are.’ There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim); and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’" Numbers 13:31, 33

there’s a trillionaire
who sells tickets to
billionaires so they can
travel to be among space
which is made up of
the same dust from creation
which we are (at no charge to us).
there are strutting, bulked up,
more inked than newspapers
folks performing in cages,
and then having the gall
to mock grace personified.
then there are those
delivering groceries to the hungry,
advocating for kids in the system,
marching proudly with neighbors,
bringing people out of captivity,
lifting up the forgotten and
never forgetting the rejected.
and you whisper:
‘blessed are the grasshoppers
for they are stronger than
all the knuckleheads
the world adores.’

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

June 19th

Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Matthew 18:21

because we cannot see you
as anything than an accountant
working from a spreadsheet
with debits and credits accruing
for each name in the system,
or like a team of professors trying
to come up with the ultimate
math formula which cannot
be solved by the next genius,
we have overcomplicated
the simple act of forgiving
(which is good, because it
lets us off the hook when
it comes to this question)
but for you, forgiveness
is a number so simple
it has no end, which seems
completely irrational to us.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman